egyptians vote on a new constitution and the country is turning into an islamic dictatorship opposition is already making accusations of. the us. elementary school massacre targeting children reignites the debate over lax gun. hundred. years since some of the biggest protests in recent russian history several people have been arrested over the. first time the european court describes treatment of terror suspects as torture the german. victim to the agency's interrogation techniques.

and on screen international news and comment live. egyptians are voting on the new draft constitution that split the country and spark weeks of violent anti president protests the referendum is seen as a decisive moment that will show which way the majority of egyptians are leaning towards the ruling islamists or the liberal opposition reportable true is following the. after three weeks of political turmoil that seen mass rallies against the president time to also bloody scenes in the streets of egypt's major combat cities overnight the military apparently beat up security at the polling stations for people to come and vote they have course have been called in by the president to secure the nation during this time of political unrest and the referendum we expect out hundreds of thousands of police officers and soldiers in the streets today

ensuring that the scenes are calm this comes after violent scenes yesterday on friday at alexandria egypt second city which saw clashes between rival protest groups to support the constitution and those against it including groups wielding machetes. also ion roads and with around about nineteen injured and possible dead to we haven't had that confirmed yet this of course follows several weeks worth of bile and seats in the streets of cairo the referendum is actually being held across two days as their nonsense sufficient number of judges to supervise the process the opposition forces say is a major problem and could open up the referendum to vote rigging in addition civil society groups here questioning how it's possible for them to observe the elections to for electoral fraud since the head of the constituent somebody who drafted the constitution is also the head of the national human rights council you'll be overseeing the observation all the polling stations the constitution itself is

a major point of contention also the opposition forces have said that it is written by islamist dominated constituent assembly of the somebody when this mass will cross by liberal leftist and church and therefore it will only pulls a religious state also they said would impose a presidential dictatorship and neglect he rights and freedoms of expression so this constitution they say should be rewritten the constituent assembly should be reforged will have to see with the results of the referendum the future of egypt. and incidents of violence are accompanying the voting in egypt as bell reports on twitter she's saying at least four people have been injured in four different cities across the country since the beginning of the constitutional referendum checa latest updates r.t. under school called. the egyptian opposition is already accusing the muslim brotherhood of mass vote rigging jury in the referendum this coupled with a lack of unity among the opposition itself is likely to result in the referendum

not reflecting the people's real will so says journalist a middle east analyst. morsi is not showing any signs of flexibility he's not showing any signs of building consensus he is shown to be a very stubborn person regardless of the outcome of the referendum the scene in egypt right now it's indicative that there is going to be a mass scale. playing with the results there is already reports about money and sustenance is being given to poor people to encourage them to go out and vote favorably with yes for the constitution and on the other side the egyptians are still divided into different groups and democratization of the voters are not going as it should have been going so it's not really representative of the

nation's will or of the consensus that should have been existing. evidence continues elsewhere in the arab world later this hour we'll have an insight from bahrain where antigovernment protests have been defiant and undefeated for almost two years now. still to come but first the u.s. is coming to terms with the gunning down of twenty six people twenty of them children at a primary school in central connecticut the massacre ended only when the killer turned the gun on himself and he's going to teach khan has the story. there's still lots of questions as to what happened at that elementary school in connecticut the shooter has been identified at this point it was adam lanza twenty year old who went into his mother's kindergarten class she was a teacher at that school and wiped out the entire class twenty children were killed in the carnage eighteen children died at the scene to the hospital those where five

year olds six year old small children the shooter also targeted and killed six adults and unless his mother the teacher was also found dead in her home near the school the suspected three of the suspected shooter had three guns on him as he went into the school two handguns and one semiautomatic weapon all reportedly registered to adam lanza's mother a witness said there must have been one hundred rounds fired after killing all these people at a lesson reportedly shot himself there has been a number of horrifying shootings at schools in the u.s. in the past but never has there been a rampage that killed this many small children in two thousand and seven a student killed thirty two people at virginia tech we of course remember the columbine massacre in colorado where two students struck and killed thirteen people and injured twenty four but the children killed in connecticut were very very young

we heard president obama delivered tearful speech this friday but nevertheless the white house has pretty much dodged questions on its gun policy and those are questions on many people's minds right now but the president this is a time of the take meaningful action to prevent messages like this from happening again but what action from he did not specify with the fact of the matter is that getting a gun is fairly easy in the u.s. adam lanza's mother apparently had no problem purchasing and registering story guns one of them a semi automatic weapon and it's a powerful deadly weapon and one of the policy goals of president obama was a man on assault weapons but it's thought to be a losing proposition for any politician in the u.s. to. really seriously consider seriously take on the issue attempts to regulate guns inevitably hit a wall and that wall is the second amendment the right of the people to bear arms some states here do have controls over gun possession but again very limited controls the state of illinois for use to have a ban on concealed weapons but this week

a federal court ruling struck down the country's last such poor vision as unconstitutional and ordered the state to craft a law allowing it so much for gun control in the us the state of wisconsin tossed out its ban on concealed weapons last year and it seems there is no way of arguing against the amendment even despite these absolutely horrifying and recurring incidents. this latest tragedy has reopened the debate on what many see is the weak gun control laws in the u.s. ortiz listen to the white house to see an anti guns rally there. many people are taking their concerns to the front of the white house as you can see about a hundred people are gathered here holding signs holding candles trying to make their voices heard saying that now is the time to talk about gun control in the u.s. we spoke to some of the protesters here's what they had to say today we saw a roomful of kindergartners slaughtered by a guy who never should have gotten

a gun. if our president can't talk about it the issue now as a father of two daughters young daughters i think it's time for him for a gut check in it's there's no more and no more excuses anymore this should not have happened we should have measures in place before this to prevent people from accessing guns who are not fit to hold them also in my opinion i don't think something that is military grade as an assault rifle i don't think that should be in the hands of anybody it's not a toy and we can't keep our teachers in our children and our school administrators safe and very day we can't keep people who are walking down the streets safe then there should be changed and to resign ourselves to the to saying that this is a problem that has a solution is defeatist and we should we should take this on and change what we did hear from press secretary jay carney earlier this morning he said today is not the day to be talking about gun control we also heard a very emotional speech from president obama sending his condolences to the victims

to the family is in newtown connecticut he did not talk about the issue of guns or gun control but protesters here say if today is not the day in the wake of this very tragic mass shooting they don't know when that time will and washington liz wall arts. well. the story in there you'll also find the full of the tragic events. several hundred people have been marking a year some of the biggest protests in russia's recent history around forty activists were arrested for taking part in

a rally that was unauthorized most of them have since been released reports. did not sanction any rallies to be held in this place saying that there is usually heavy traffic in this area and any mass gatherings could cause some additional problems they did hold long ago the opposition before other fields to reach an agreement as a result today several hundred people gathered to mark one year since the start of . the. arrests including those of opposition leaders. they say that they were detained a lawful they claim that all the people who are gathered here this saturday are not taking part in any rally they're just outside for a walk all in all i hear today is a really of no comparison to what we've seen a year ago last december when truly tens of thousands of people took to the streets while here we're talking just about a few hundred. tough economic times in the u.k.

and taking their toll on british diet slated to report on how soaring food prices in the u.k. a forcing many to say no to a healthy meal. go back to church. and find faith and to remember what the holiday is supposed to before. just think people should think that every year has to be the best christmas ever nature in the program nori home for this quiz is people in the big apple never win it today's christmas is not something of its traditional that's in any movie like. an artist was arrested for putting up posters critical of drone usage all over new york city the poster show a menacing drone shooting

a missile at innocent children with the words drones protection when you least expect it written at the bottom these posters definitely reflect a lot of americans fears that a big brother skynet will completely eliminate the very concept of privacy and free speech so to prove that americans live in a free country without any government spying the n.y.p.d. hunted down the anonymous artist and arrested him for expressing himself having arrested him at his residence they charged him with fifty six counts of criminal possession of a forged instrument grand larceny possession of stolen property and weapons possession for having a deadly terrorist weapon and unloaded twenty two caliber pistol although being in jail won't be pleasant perhaps arzt s m a t actually in the end it got what he wanted he proved to the world that big brother surveilled him and arrested him all for throwing up a few posters looks like he proved his point but that's just my opinion.

well the true science technology innovation called the list of melon mints from around russia we've got the future covered. used them to see. destruction without to see. what could have been just ruins. saved by a great sacrifice. and restored by huge efforts.

a remarkable reminder of courage and selflessness. putin is of all people. into all of russia the song i. want to use today violence is once again flared up. and these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. china corporations are the day. this continues here in l a t tens of thousands of people marching bahrain's capital

as anti-government protests continue in the gulf the uprising has been going on for almost two years now and it's often met with a brutal response by the country's security forces saeed you see if from the bahrain center for human rights says the authorities affirm their actions because they enjoy western support government to have. grown with the country so that's why they don't care i want to hear in one night more than one hundred. thousand will. be listed. and what are you going to have. their government behind it because they have a big. they don't care i want to hear. we out of it. all you kind of we've got an. american. so that's why they don't care about democracy and human rights

they are killing people and people are going to do and they don't. thousands of people are taking to the streets of the portuguese capital to protest against next year's budget includes the biggest tax hikes in the country's modern history which means government is committed to its thirty years as it struggles to meet the terms of its international creditors and as the painful cuts continue to cause misery the bank is a far away from those problems busying themselves with dodgy deals with. herbut suggest in the next hour. as america got it in for british banks here it is britain who is played. to the al capone of the global financial and military industrial complex system and now al capone's turning on them when they're all sought but al capone in this case the u.s. regulators they want you know the u.k. to basically hire their cousin vinny h.s.b.c. for example has hired two former senior u.s. treasury officials to run is legal in compliance so part of these u.k.

backers are going to find wake up with their skull hanging from friers bridge like roberta calvin from the eighty's hello british banker hanging from friars branch from the back you deserve. because a report coming away a little later. a cia agent illegally abducted a german citizen sodomized him and beat him up these are the findings of the european court of human rights in its first ever ruling that the cia is guilty of torture the court found in favor of a man who had failed for years to get legal in the us and europe of what happened to him. as he was kidnapped in two thousand and three and abused off to be mistaken for a terrorist the us is now being pursued for an apology in compensation for the author of the story about valentine believes that's unlikely to happen as the cia operates above the law.

prison prison term. you know convicted of a crime these people are simply above the law the only thing that the cia does is through conduct illegal activity which is why it's above the law it's businesses that are illegal so the fact that. america or any place of do it legal. this you know it's not appropriate all of. those things without prior authorization from. the president. everything that. is policy. in other world headlines now at least three people are dead and dozens injured after three rockets were fired at peshawar airport in northern pakistan explosions before the by heavy gunfire roads going to the airport have been closed no one has claimed responsibility but peshawar has been repeatedly

hit by similar attacks carried out by al qaeda and taliban militants. hundreds of people are gathered in central athens for an anti-racism march immigrants representatives of european anti racism groups as well as members of the greek socialists and the democratic left join the ranee attacks against foreigners in the capital being on the rise as the country dives deeper into financial crisis. many britons are preparing for a scan christmas dinner with soaring food prices forcing people to ditch holiday delicacies the cost of food is up by a third in just five years leaving many families with slim pickings. reports. do you know what you're putting in your shopping basket health conscious customers might want to call up on their fruit and vege but what if it's getting too expensive for families in the u.k. the cost of their weekly shop has gone up by over the past five years and it's set to get more expensive still among the healthier. five ninety nine

kilogram and your frozen process retailing at one twenty nine in some cases now if you're a struggling household with lots of mounts to feed it's a no brainer britain is now in the midst of a nutritional recession to go hand in hand with the financial every million children in the u.k. are going without a daily healthy meal a coalition government provide free for schools and a supplement those on the lower income but it looks like the cheap meal deals are often more appealing than the government health warnings health campaign to say it's time for the government. to get britain and struggling households to acquire not just the taste but also the means for a healthier diet so there's just a real we can to christmas and for many that means the excitement of what's waiting under the tree while the retail industry is ready to. resume. if the festive spirit is turning into.

why have the holidays become such hellish days this week let's talk about that it's a commercial thing now everyone son to spend money it's not about what it really should be about how did that happen is it the media telling us to buy buy buy a absolutely it's everyone with their sales and absolutely i live on what people buy you know and i'm an independent sales rep so i depend on it so you're happy with this christmas i'm happy this christmas i sell luxury goods as long as people keep buying into i have a holiday is it a way to stop that would be to go back to church to read the bible and to find faith and to remember what the holiday is supposed to be for what about people of other religions as it is there anything for them i said i should define religion. is there saving for them i believe in christianity but i think it's important that

whether it's christiane to be or not that you have morals and values based on religious faith do you think there's a war in christmas oh i don't think there's a war on christmas i just think people shouldn't think that every year has to be the best christmas ever is that what we do we set our expectations too high we do i think that we should just enjoy it that each year should be a nice christmas with a couple of presents maybe full of press that's right along with the feeling of safety and community with all these holidays also remind people believe or not this is just my opinion holidays remind people of their own mortality that we're not going to be around here very much longer and our lives are very short. because we tend to remember the people who have gone on the holidays as well and that's why we p.c. the holidays we just want to feel safe we want to feel like i'm extending my time here a little bit more and i want you to believe what i believe and maybe as someone others someone else's believes makes us feel better and that's exactly telling the truth docents i'm approaching the fiscal cliff is not as much about. they are being this

year as all the rest of us do nine years this is going to be a little bit different how you can do it differently. i was going to be on facebook . just wishing people merry christmas and calling it a day like whether or not the world has lost its holiday spirit but the bottom line is it wouldn't hurt any of us to take a look inside to find our own private reason is that the brain then. i'll be back with more news with the news team in thirty five minutes from now in the meantime we take you on a tour of russia's northern port city of moments combe of the world over the fleet of nuclear powered icebreakers after the break. in japan the average height for men is one hundred eighty two centimeters ten centimeters shorter because of that some employers refused to hire me one of them

even told me directly that i was too short to deal with the clients computers already spent three months in this hospital and plans to stay for another four to add the coveted seven centimeters to his stature invented by the famed soviet orthopedic is because we will result in the nineteen fifties these frames were initially used to treat fractures in deformities by cutting bones and slowly pulling them up or therefore stimulating tissue regeneration it was out of was able to receive arms and legs and people who thought they were crippled for life piecing together patients shattered bones and in many cases their shattered lives with the main goal when professing the result of design his first brain using bicycle parts sixty years later says invention is increasingly being used to help people who are eager to fracture their legs to become a few centimeters taller than the ultimate goal is still the same fixing somebodies lives both literally and figuratively about

a third of patients admitted she was out of a. center now days seeking series three focus magic reasons most of them a man and most are not what you would call vertically challenged professor novikov who operated on many of them sas it usually comes down to man's pride some of the first patient to turn to us with a leg length i mean request to meet his fifteen centimeters to be still want to surgery because panos tool than him we like to say that we need to break their legs in order to fix their heads maybe nothing wrong with them from an orthopedic point of view but there is something psychological that prevents them from living their lives fully being happy and we fix it like lengthening surgeries a band in many countries and even the will out there pretty expensive in russia the entire course costs eleven thousand dollars about one tenth of the similar package in the united states financial considerations were one of the reasons they brought this washington state native to western siberia his main motive for the surgery had

to do with how he fared in the others in america advertise his one seventy five i was one sixty seven or one sixty eight and so on eight centimeters would have brought me right to average users wanted to be average for women height isn't so important you know i think girl can be short and it's not a big deal i think a guy is like expected to be taller just before the operation most mad a russian girl who found he's a regional hide quite in dealing yet he still want to have had the surgery adding seven more centimeters to he self-confidence she told me the whole time you're crazy you're normal you're perfect. for an hour or so they call you so what a compliment for somebody who's used to falling short of his own expectations.

the woman screams in lines above the arctic circle and even for russia this is a tough climate to survive in where temperatures can stay below zero for eight months of the year. standing on the outskirts of the city of more months it's right up in the far north of russia and it's been the starting point for many polar expeditions i'm hoping and i'm going to get to try one or two arctic challenges myself. you have to be physically fit to survive up here and the people certainly seem to have a lot of energy from one of the biggest annual events in a moment skews the northern lympics a collection of winter games that brings the population out in force and this is

a welcome to take two. now if you're going to be an arctic explorer one thing you have to hire is plenty of stamina so i have decided to enter. that sort of insurance in the cross country market. and. i know you must meet. your. goodman thank you very much who's your number one thirty one thirty which i think is about as about a thousand people here. i'll make it to number hundred thirty i'll be very lucky ok i'll go so if i'm torn as an experience i'm one of the race organizers and apparently i wasn't exactly in for a treat can you tell me a bit about the specifics of the race because it seems fairly true through the hard three you know here's a thousand gates and a bit more strange he'll has about fifty killer those. too.